'It takes a huge amount of courage to burgle somebody's house': What judge told intruder who raided three homes before letting him walk free from court

• Judge Peter Bowers admitted he could be 'pilloried' for his controversial decision
• Richard Rochford was facing a two-and-a-half-year jail term for four burglaries
• Judge said prison had harmed him after he developed an addiction to a heroin treatment drug

A judge praised burglars for their ‘courage’ and claimed prison ‘very rarely does anybody any good’ as he allowed a serial intruder to walk free from court.
Judge Peter Bowers said burglar Richard Rochford deserved to be jailed for two-and-a-half years but he decided to take an ‘extraordinary chance’ by not locking him up.
Recognising the controversy he was  causing, the judge added: ‘I might get pilloried for it.’

Controversial: Judge Peter Bowers admitted he could be 'pilloried' for his decision to let Richard Rochford go free after he admitted to a string of burglaries

His astonishing comments were condemned by victims of the burglar and follow a series of controversial remarks by the same judge in previous cases.
Rochford, 26, burgled three homes in East Cleveland and tried to burgle another in the space of five days. He committed the crimes to feed a drug addiction that started when he was in prison for another offence, Teesside Crown Court was told.

'Serial burglar': Richard Rochford went on a burglary spree in February

Passing sentence, Judge Bowers told him: ‘It takes a huge amount of  courage as far as I can see for someone to burgle somebody’s house. I wouldn’t have the nerve.

‘Yet somehow, bolstered by drugs and desperation, you were prepared to do that.’ The judge added: ‘I think prison very rarely does anybody any good. It mostly leaves people the chance to change their own mind if they want to. I don’t think anybody would benefit from sending you to prison today. We’d all just feel a bit easier that a burglar had been taken off the streets.’

Rochford could have been jailed for two-and-a-half years but instead he was given a suspended 12-month jail sentence, a two-year supervision order with drug rehabilitation, 200 hours’ unpaid work and a one-year driving ban. The offence was Rochford’s first burglary conviction, although he was cautioned for burgling a home at the age of ten. He has previously been jailed for three years for arson.

Rochford went on a burglary spree in February. He took a laptop, satnav and money from the first home he raided and drove away the family’s Ford Focus car, which he damaged and abandoned.

'It takes a huge amount of courage as far as I can see for someone to burgle somebody's home. I wouldn't have the nerve'

Judge Peter Bowers

The following night he took jewellery, a handbag and electrical items from another home. His girlfriend Amy Kyme, 22, who acted as lookout and helped dispose of the stolen goods, was given a suspended prison sentence. Rochford walked into both unlocked homes while the owners slept.
He admitted two burglaries and asked for another burglary and an attempted burglary to be taken into consideration. He also admitted aggravated vehicle taking.

Graham Brown, defending, told the court the drug habit Rochford developed ‘scarred his life’ and ‘the system failed him’. He claimed the petty crook had changed his ways.
Mr Brown said Rochford had had a ‘major wake-up call,’ and had ‘seen the light’. He confessed, co-operated with police and stopped using drugs, the court heard.

Rochford ransacked the home of Mark Clayton, 47, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Bosnia. Mr Clayton said the judge made a ‘grave misjudgment’.

Sentencing: Rochford was given a suspended 12-month jail sentence at Teesside Crown Court

He added: ‘Picking dead bodies up after they’ve been blown up, to go into that takes courage. Walking into someone’s house on an opportunistic whim and basically devastating someone’s life by taking things that man has worked so hard for all his life, and taking it away without a thought, isn’t courage.’

Mr Clayton said his son Mark, 16, was at first wrongly arrested on suspicion of the burglary, causing further upset for his family. Rochford stole a wallet containing £500 of life savings when he raided the home of retired shipyard worker John Hopper, 73, and wife Vera, 71.

Daughter Sharon Hopper, 40, said: ‘I can’t believe what the judge said. What really took courage was my parents having to continue living in their house after he had invaded their privacy.

 

‘Until the judge has had his own home burgled while he is lying asleep inside it, he cannot possibly know the fear and distress suffered by decent people like my parents.’

Judge Bowers, 67, is a married father of three who has been a judge for more than 20 years.

He has made contradictory comments about burglary sentencing in recent months. In May, he criticised sentencing guidelines that let first-time burglars escape with a ‘slap across the wrist’.

But weeks later, he allowed a man with almost 80 crimes on his record to walk free for a burglary committed four days after his release from prison, telling the court: ‘I must be getting soft in my old age.’

Judge Bowers then told David Wray, 39: ‘I am quite sure you are capable of a lot better. If you are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, you’ll be all right.’